JobKeeper Payment for employers and employees

Last Updated: 29 May 2020

Under the JobKeeper payment, businesses impacted by COVID-19 will be able to access a subsidy to continue paying their employees. The Government will provide a fortnightly payment of $1500 per eligible employee until 27 September 2020.

JobKeeper updates from the ATO

JobKeeper is paid to employers. The ATO does not make payments directly to employees.

A monthly business declaration must be made by the 14th day of each month, starting in June, to receive reimbursements for payments made in the previous month.

What the JobKeeper payment is

The JobKeeper payment supports businesses significantly affected by COVID-19 to help keep more Australians in jobs. The JobKeeper payment is administered by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The JobKeeper payment is open to eligible employers to enable them to pay their eligible employee’s salary or wages of at least $1,500 (before tax) per fortnight.

Eligible employers will be reimbursed a fixed amount of $1,500 per fortnight for each eligible employee.

Employers need to pay eligible employees a minimum of $1500 (before tax) per fortnight to claim the JobKeeper payment. This will be paid to the employer in arrears each month. The first payments to eligible employers commence in the first week of May 2020. JobKeeper payments can be made for the period beginning 30 March 2020.

If employers do not continue to pay their employees for each pay period, they will cease to qualify for the JobKeeper payment.

To be eligible for the JobKeeper payment, employers and their employees must meet a range of criteria.

Aggregated turnover

When working out your aggregated turnover, you should not include certain income (for example, transactions between you and those other businesses). These connected businesses may be based in Australia or overseas.

Timing

The subsidy started on 30 March 2020, with the first payments to be received by employers in the first week of May.

The time to enrol for the initial JobKeeper periods has been extended from 30 April 2020 until 31 May 2020.

If you enrol by 31 May, you will still be able to claim for the fortnights in April and May, provided you meet all the eligibility requirements for each of those fortnights. This includes having paid your employees by the appropriate date for each fortnight.

How to apply

You can enrol in the JobKeeper scheme on the ATO website using an online form.

After you enrol, you will need to identify your specific eligible employees and submit the information to the ATO.

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